Historic Cornwall – North of Fairview/Laflecheville

The region North of Fairview and Laflecheville on Part of Lot 12 was located in the former Cornwall Township and became a Cornwall neighbourhood on January 1, 1957 when the City annexed much of the Township.

It was bounded on the north by Ninth Street West. on the east by the Town limits (Cumberland Street), on the south by Fifth Street West and on west by what became Brookdale Avenue.

The above view is looking west towards the former Brookdale Mall, which opened in 1968.

In this region is Cornwall’s first multi-faith cemetery, Woodlawn, which was incorporated in August of 1888 in anticipation of the Town restricting further burials within the Mile Square, with existing cemeteries nearing capacity. The earliest recorded burial at the Woodlawn property dates to 1830, when this was a family farm.

June of 1989 saw the dedication of Woodlawn’s first columbarium, the first within the City limits.

This photo from 1996 shows the chain link fencing and stenciled gate that marked the cemetery perimeter at that time.

By June of 2007 the cemetery’s dilapidated chain link fencing had been permanently removed, creating more of a park-like effect. After Cumberland Street road reconstruction that autumn, the cemetery board and other volunteers began work on the current modern, graceful new entrance, which was officially opened in the spring of 2008. Today the cemetery occupies 14 acres of the original 25 acre property.

Adjacent to Woodlawn and facing Brookdale Avenue is a chain link gate that marks the former entrance of the community’s Jewish small cemetery of old, immediately south of the unopened Fifth Street West right-of-way. Originally the cemetery was established for the Baron de Hirsch Congregation, with the first burial in 1916. In modern times we knew their synagogue as Beth-El. The last burial at the site was believed to have occurred in the mid-1950s. In 1984 all of the graves in the abandoned Beth-El Cemetery were relocated to the Union Cemetery near Ingleside. In 1989 a re-zoning proposal to allow the erection of a 2,000 square foot sports bar on the site failed due to the inability of the site to efficiently support the intensity of the proposed land use.

This neighbourhood also included various businesses in the area of Seventh Street West between Cumberland Street and Brookdale Avenue.

South side 400 block of 7th Street West ca. 1968.

At one time Gamble-Robinson Ltd operated at 698 Cumberland Street, southwest corner of 7th. This was their premises in 1960.

By 1965, Zenith was operating at the site.

This was the store interior in March of 1965. These Zenith photos are from the Marcel Quenneville collection. At one point, the outlet was listed under the Zenith banner as well as Hussey Electric.

In 1966 the building, then known as 646 and 650 Cumberland Street, officially became home to Hussey Electric Supply Limited. This 1971 newspaper advertisement includes a photo.

Here is a 1974 newspaper ad. By 1977 Hussey was operating as Westburne Electric’s Electronic and Lighting Division and later as their Electrical Division.

Since 1994 Tackaberry Heating and Refrigeration Supplies has called 650 Cumberland Street its home.

Another historic business in this district included St. Lawrence Rendering Co Ltd (410 7th St W.) during the 1950s and 1960s. The site later became home to Roy’s Pool Supply outlet. Today it is a recently cleaned up vacant lot.

On November 21, 1929, Frances Bertha Colquhoun deeded Part 4-5, 7-8, 10 and 12-13 of the property to Fibre Conduits (Canada) Ltd. This is the area of the current Walmart store.

On August 2, 1940 Fibre Conduits (Canada) Ltd deeded it to the Dominion Tar & Chemical Co. Ltd for the operation of their Fibre Conduit Division.
In 1950 we also see the Domtar Construction Materials name in use at this property. Throughout the 1950s Dominion Tar & Chemical acquired other adjacent parcels of land.

Then came No-Co-Rode (1964) Limited sewer pipe factory. The company dissolved in 1978. Numerous companies subsequently occupied parts of the property. The adjacent Holiday Inn (later Ramada) had not been constructed when these photos were taken, nor had the Ninth Street extension been created.

Along the northern edge of the Domtar/NoCoRode property Don McIntosh operated a trucking company, which evolved into Amazing Waste Disposal. Later Tomlinson Environmental purchased Amazing Waste and re-located to Boundary Road. Thank you to Steve Reynolds for sharing these three historic photos.

Other historic businesses on this site included Max Rabin’s butcher shop which became B&M Quality Meat Markets, followed by a series of restaurants: Mangiano’s, Mangi’s Mediterranean Ristorante, etc.

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